Life is difficult, even if you're good at it.

NB: Raven’s Gift is available only as a podcast.

Raven has an unusual gift, or is it a curse: a nose that can smell almost anything. During her adventures in medieval, magical Ausland, she must defeat a dragon, an army of giant-size warriors, and three evil wizards. She will master the greatest bit of nose-magic, and learn how to use it in her battles. Even the defeat of the evil wizards will not be enough. When their evil magic is destroyed, Raven and her friend must avoid starvation and face the lightning bolts of yet another mage, to have a chance to stay alive. Interleaved with this fantasy adventure is another story: how does a scrappy fighter make peace with her past mistakes, and how does she find friends to help her make amends for them? Although there’s no graphic violence or graphic sex, Raven’s Gift probably deserves an R rating for being earthy.

NB: Raven’s Gift is available only as a podcast.

Note:Raven’s Gift is available only as a podcast. It contains some harsh language.

Editorial Reviews

Feb 15, 2009: Raven is an agent run by a mysterious character named Orvannon and her role is to carry out certain tasks for him. These tasks may vary from retrieving items to ending lives.

Having lived a very chequered life herself, Raven is no stranger to hardship. At the beginning of the story, we join her following the successful completion of a mission and on the eve of a rendezvous with Orvannon.

Raven’s gift is the ability to "smell almost anything" and Ausland, the medieval world she inhabits, is no enchanted fairyland. All kinds
of odours abound, most of them of the unpleasant variety.

The narrator has a good command of English, a clear speaking voice and includes an introduction or recap at the commencement of each chapter—and a short synopsis of the one to follow. Each podcast includes
brief musical intermissions and is professional in its presentation. There are moments when it falls down though—in particular when the
narrator slips into character and alters his voice accordingly. The character voices are a distraction and, as the narrator’s reading is
slow, it is easy to lose focus.

In his introduction, the author takes care to advise the reader that, "Although there’s no graphic violence or graphic sex, Raven’s Gift
probably deserves an R rating for being earthy." Personally, I found Raven’s Gift to veer on the side of coarse rather than earthy. In the opening chapter the reader is privy to Raven’s bathroom etiquette, the accommodations for her menstrual cycle and, later on in the same chapter, we are witness to a rape.

The majority of Chapter 2 is dedicated to a conversation between Raven and Orvannon and a rather poor, long-winded debriefing of her earlier mission. At the end of this chapter, a further conversation takes place involving Raven and a member of Ausland’s clergy. A lot of attention is paid to detail and once again the reading is frustratingly slow.

On the whole, the story is well-written—apart from being overly described in places. It may work better in the written format, but, as an audiobook, it is just not tight enough to work well.

After listening to the story for 90 minutes I decided to call it a day having developed no further interest in discovering the fate of Raven
or the origins of her gift.

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